Friday, November 25, 2011

In Vote in Morocco, Many Stay Skeptical

Vote in Morocco

CASABLANCA, Morocco — Yassine Bousalim, a 26-year-old chef from the poor neighborhood of Derb Sultan, where lingering smells of garbage fill the air, watched voters come and go on Friday from the polling station across the street, with an air of disgusted detachment.

“I won’t go and vote,” he said. “I just don’t think anything will come out of this.”

Mr. Bousalim is among the many young and disenchanted Moroccans who chose not to vote in their country’s first parliamentary elections since the passage of a new Constitution last year. That document, an effort by King Mohammed VI to respond to local and regional unrest during the Arab Spring, was approved in July. It gives more powers to Parliament and the prime minister, but preserves most of the king’s prerogatives, including absolute control over military and religious issues.

“Corruption is too big,” said Mr. Bousalim, one of about 57 percent of the 13.5 million eligible voters who are under the age of 35. “Each time we are confronted to an institution, we want to be treated with respect,” he said. Results are expected Saturday.

In contrast to Tunisia, where millions flooded to the polls to vote last month on the first free elections after the overthrow of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the turnout here is expected to be lower. Still, this election is being watched closely as a significant and calibrated step toward democracy. The Tunisian elections were won by the main Islamist party, Ennahda.

The Interior Ministry said that by 5 p.m., two hours before polls closed, about 34 percent of registered voters had cast ballots.

But the change here may still be significant. The Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) is expected to do well, it could even become the country’s largest party and, in a coalition government, provide the next prime minister, who will have the power to appoint ministers and dissolve Parliament.

“We believe that we will be the No. 1 party,” said Abdelilah Benkirane, the PJD’s general-secretary in an interview. “Therefore the prime minister will be from our party,” he said.

The PJD was founded in 1998 and is the largest opposition party, with 47 seats in Parliament. It has broadly appealed to Morocco’s large numbers of poor voters by focusing on economic and social issues. It has paid attention to the success in Turkey of the governing AK Party, which has fused religion and modern politics.

“They want the best for the country,” said Iman Bajebour, 20, who took a break from her work as a nurse to cast a ballot for the PJD in Derb Gharaf, a poor neighborhood here. “From my prospective, the PJD will fight corruption,” she said.

But some Moroccans are nervous that the party would back anti-Western policies if brought to power. Last week, the French-language weekly “Tel Quel” splashed the headline, “Morocco will be Islamist,” across its cover.

Other main contenders out of the many parties seeking seats include the Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM), created in 2009 out of several smaller parties by a close friend of the king, and Istiqlal, the historic party of independence, founded in 1944, and currently in power.

For some Moroccans voters, though, the elections could consolidate the king’s recent democratic push.

“I think it is the duty of citizens to come and vote,” said Marwan Sayarh, a 30-year-old businessman who voted for the first time. “Morocco is becoming more democratic and I want to support it.”

The country’s loyalty to King Mohamed VI, who has been in power since 1999 and has responded this year to calls for democratic change, contrasted with the revolts against secular nationalist governments in Egypt and Tunisia.

“We are on a path of continuity, mobilization, and of coherence,” said Salaheddine Mezzouar, the country’s finance minister and head of the moderate RNI party, a prominent political force in the country. Some commentators have speculated that he could be prime minister.

Analysts say that given Morocco’s complex proportional electoral system and the few requirements for aspiring candidates and parties — there are 5,873 candidates from more than 30 parties — it is unlikely that one party would emerge with a majority.

But discontent toward the political elite is real among voters here, and some social activists have called for a boycott of the vote. The February 20 Movement for Change, which led the protests against the government this year, is urging its supporters not to vote.

Mr. Bousalim, the chef, said he was tempted to join the February 20 movement because “they would really help.” But he fears police retaliation, which according to Human Rights Watch, detained more than 100 of its members since October to question them about the distribution of pro-boycott leaflets or other activities.

The February 20 movement is a hybrid and youthful coalition of students, independents, leftist activists and Islamists. It has held regular demonstrations and played a key role in pushing reforms and orchestrating protests against political corruption. It favors a constitutional monarchy, in which the king reigns but does not rule. But Morocco is conservative and the monarchy has deep roots, and the February 20 movement has been criticized outside the large cities.

The movement has denounced the king’s reforms as insufficient and argues that the new Constitution in fact reinforces the king’s prerogatives. Parliamentary elections would bring another corrupt assembly to power, they say.

Fouad Abdelmoumni, an economist and a leading coordinator of the movement, said that the king “still has the main authority in his hands.”